Cohort Stories: Meet Yamilet
vol. 6, no. 127 — guest post by Yamilet Gutierrez
The first step I took towards my journey to Hack.Diversity , was deciding to combine my varied interests in technology and graphic/web design. I decided I wanted to funnel that into learning the foundations I would need in a career as a software engineer. I remember thinking there was so much I didn’t know. To confirm programming was something that I really wanted to pursue, I decided to obtain a Bachelor’s in Computer Science at Auburn University. Throughout my progress, I have worked with different technologies as well as in group projects, and I feel ready and excited to continue my learning journey.
I have always been drawn to technology from a young age, ever since first interacting with my cousin’s VTech laptop as a kid. I enjoyed editing HTML and CSS to personalize my microblogging posts and tinkering with an Arduino kit and meshing coding with hardware.
Those instances combined with the realization I could take my graphic and web design skills from microblogging into something much more helped cement my interest and excitement in the software technology space. I remember thinking, “I want to be a creator and not just a user,” to create through code as my form of expression
What fascinates me to this day is how almost anything can be coded and used for some benefit.
I am motivated by the potential for growth through challenges. Learning how I can grow through obstacles faced as I learn new skills is the utmost motivator when I get stuck on problems.My guiding source of inspiration is to find a solution and thus continue forward. I look forward to the learning to come during my time in the fellowship, and I feel gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of Hack.Diversity. In the future, I hope to be able to mentor someone in my shoes and pay forward the opportunities that Hack.Diversity is presenting me with.